Dark Space: Origin Read Online Free PDF Page A

returned.
    Terl’s eyes cracked open. He stretched and smiled. “Hoi, beautiful,” he said. “Morning already?”
    “Already? We slept through half the day.”
    “Kavaar! Can’t remember the last time I did that! Feels good to get some real rack time.”
    Caldin just nodded and looked away.
    “What is it?” Terl asked, his smile fading.
    “They’re not back yet.”
    “Oh. . . .”
    “Yeah, well, it’s time we got up and joined the crew. This ship’s not going to run itself.”
    Terl grinned and pulled her down on top of him. “Last I checked the ship didn’t need runnin’ at all. We’re just sittin’ here, waitin’ for a rescue. And as long as we’ve got nothin’ better to do . . .” He reached down and touched her between her legs.
    She quirked one eyebrow at him. “Didn’t you have enough last night?”
    “I never get enough of you ma’am. . . .”
    She felt his hand begin tracing delicate, provocative circles, but she wasn’t in the mood. Reaching down, she grabbed his hand and gently pushed it away. “Don’t start anything you can’t finish. I have to at least pretend to care what’s happening on my ship before the crew gets restless and starts planning a mutiny.” She smiled and kissed his lips to soften the rejection before rolling off him and climbing out of bed.
    Terl sighed and followed her. They shared a quick meal together in her quarters, and then Caldin made the call that she’d been dreading and checked in with the bridge. “Everything all right up there, Grimsby?” She didn’t want them to tell her what she already knew—to make the truth any more real.
    “All fine, ma’am, but there’s no sign of the Rescue —or any Sythians.”
    “Not that we’d see the Sythians if they were there.”
    “No, ma’am. I suppose we wouldn’t.”
    “I’ll be up in five. Caldin out.” Turning to Terl, she said, “I need you to head back down to the brig to help keep watch. If I wanted to kill the imposter last night, someone else might try to do the same. Those three prisoners have made enough enemies to last them a lifetime, so make sure no one disturbs them.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    Five minutes later, Caldin stepped up to the doors of the bridge and waved her wrist over the control panel. The doors swished open and she was chagrined to find the entire day crew already at their posts. Only their commander had slept in. A few heads turned to see her striding down the gangway, and she met their hollow-eyed gazes with a nod. By now everyone was in need of a morale boost. The Rescue was very late. A round trip to Obsidian Station should have taken less than two days. Almost three had passed.
    Caldin reached the captain’s table and gazed down on it with a furrowed brow, as if there were something to study there. The Defiant was holding steady at the rendezvous they’d set up before the Rescue had left. The coordinates of the rendezvous were far enough away from their original jump trajectory to keep them safe—at least for a time—but the Sythians were not stupid when it came to astronavigation. By now they would have sent out ships from both the Forlax and Odaran Systems on jumps which would hem them in and narrow down their possible location. With the Sythians’ slower SLS technology it would take some time, but depending how many ships were out there searching, the Defiant could be discovered at any moment. They needed the Rescue to return with reinforcements now .
    Caldin stared at the star map rising out of the captain’s table, willing a contact to appear in the three dimensional grid, but nothing happened. Looking up from the table, she shook her head and walked down from the gangway to the gravidar station. Petty Officer Goldrim turned and gave a brisk salute. “Ma’am?” The boy was barely twenty years old with a round face, dark hair, and a lanky frame. At best, he should have still been in training to join a bridge crew, and his rating was that of a med bay